Zoology Activities and Lesson Plans

Web interactive activities: Zoology

Freshwater Mussel Identification Activity

This is an interactive version of the lesson plan in the Mussel Collection Web exhibit. Learn how zoologists use keys to identify mussels by shell texture, color, and shape. Choose among five shells to identify.

This activity requires a flash plugin on your computer, which may be downloaded for free on the Macromedia site.

Protective Coloration in Butterflies and Moths Activity

Learn three principles of how butterflies and moths are protected from predators by their colors. Create your own coloration on butterfly and moth graphics, move them to their background and see if they are camouflaged or if they would startle a foe!

This activity requires a flash plugin on your computer, which may be downloaded for free on the Macromedia site.

State Symbols Web Exhibit and Game

Play a State Symbols Identification Game and learn about all the Illinois State symbols.

Web-available Lesson Plans: Zoology

Animal Adaptations Lesson from Midwest U.S. 16,000 Years Ago: Learn about adaptations in animals by studying the teeth of mastodons, mammoths, and saber-tooth cats. (pdf)(Middle school)
Butterfly and Moth Collection Lesson plan: County Poster: Lesson plan for grades 4 - 7 on researching and making a county butterfly and moth poster
County Butterfly or Moth Poster: Use the Museum's Lepidoptera database to find out what butterflies and moths have ever been spotted and reported in your county. Then find examples of the species in the Museum's Lepidoptera photograph gallery or elsewhere on the Web, save them, and use a photo program to create and print out a poster of your county's species.
Dragonfly Anatomy Polymer Clay Model Lesson pdf: Study and review the anatomy of dragonflies by building this polymer clay model of a dragonfly.
Dragonfly Collection Lesson Plan: County Poster: Lesson plan using Web research to create a county poster of local dragonfly images and information; for grades 4-7
Forms for Exhibit Creation Lessons: In the Classroom Exhibit lesson for the Behind the Scenes module, students can print out and use forms to keep records of the objects or specimens they are planning to exhibit.
Freshwater Mussel Anatomy Lesson Plan: Lesson plan on freshwater mussel anatomy for grades 4 to 8.
Freshwater Mussel Habitat Diorama pdf: Construct your own model river or lake mussel habitat using printouts of animals and plants as your guide.
Freshwater Mussel Identification Lesson Plan: Lesson plan on the identification process of mussels, grades 2-6
Freshwater Mussel Lesson Plan on Habitat: Lesson plan on freshwater mussel habitat for grades 2 to 7
Introductory Teacher Orientation to MuseumLink Lesson Plans
Mussel Identification Chart pdf: Print out this mussel i.d. chart that shows how to use a key to identify a set of, in this case, mussels.
Prairie Animals Classification Twenty Questions Game pdf: Students learn questioning strategies to narrow down their choices while using information from the animal classification system.
Spider Collection and Native American Collections Lesson Plan: Lesson plan for grades 3-6 on making a spider-motif gorget based on an artifact from Dickson Mounds Museum
Spider Collection Lesson Plan on Spider Anatomy: Lesson plan for grades K-3 on spider anatomy
Spider Collection Lesson Plan: Writing a Poem: Lesson plan for grades 3-6 for language arts and science: write a spider poem
Spider Gorget Lesson Plan pdf: Early Native Americans in Illinois used shell to create gorgets, or neck pendants.
Spider Poem Lesson Plan pdf: Read the Spider and the Fly, view our spider collection and read about spiders, then write your own poem.
Symmetry in Butterflies Lesson pdf: There are three principles of protective coloration in butterflies. Explore these principles and create a 3-D painted butterfly with a symmetrical protective coloration. (also see the interactive on this lesson)
The ISM builds a replica giant ground sloth skeleton: For the Changes! Exhibition, the Illinois State Museum replicated a Jeffersonâ€™s Giant Ground Sloth, an extinct Ice Age mammal.